Lord of the Matrix
by foodmart
Summary: Backstabber has called upon his armies...only eight can save the universe...
1. Default Chapter

The Lord of the Matrix

Prologue:

If there was a center of the universe, this is it:

_My name is Steve Bateman. I am the creator, the moderator, the giver of the Matrix. The Matrix is the most powerful force in the universes-every universe. However, with great good comes great evil. The Matrix has been stolen. The foe of everything living, Backstabber and his thugs have claimed their prize and with it they plan to invade the universes. The Matrix will power Backstabber's armies to strengths never seen before. He intends to crown himself Supreme Commander over the universes. The sun will forever set. The winds forever blow. Ashes will rise to great figures of evil and hate._

With the aid of his henchmen, Apollyon-Lord of Fire and Flame-, Sixty-Lord of Darkness and Black-and Savage-Lord of Pain and Anguish-, Backstabber has taken the Matrix. Time is all that stands between the destruction of my universes and there is not much time left. To insure that I can not reclaim the Matrix-while his armies unite-Backstabber has broken it into three pieces, entrusting each piece with one of his dark Lords.

The only chance for the universes are eight individuals. They are paired, living in different universes and unaware of each others existence. I created them long ago in case this evil should come close to befalling justice and right. I call on them now. I use the last of my power-I reshape their universes, removing them. I also reshape the universes of the dark Lords, removing them. And they converge together on a new playing field, a new world which I have created. These eight are the only chance...

They must defeat all of the dark Lords, defeat Backstabber and return the Matrix for peace and order to be restored.

Chapter 1: The Fellowship of the Matrix.

"Azoric, anytime today would be nice. We only have the garage while my mother is out grocery shopping. Oh, I'm sorry-Angelo Dante, are you ready?" Zor Primus drops his neck, his elegant, purple curls shade his eyes and oil his forehead. His small frame doesn't seem fitting of the large bass strapped over his shoulder. Behind him, their drummer-as well having long, purple curls-syncs his symbol crashes to seconds. "Dude, it is practice. You don't have to spend thirty minutes tuning the guitar."

"I hear you, just shut up a minute." Azoric tightens some of the strings. His thumb runs across the electric guitar and the amp powers sound throughout the garage. "We are twenty-four years old, Zor. We've been doing this band for five years and we still haven't landed one gig. It is because we aren't serious and because we sound awful. Maybe if we spent time properly tuning our instruments they would sound like we intend them to."

"Serious? I want to practice, play and get better. That is not serious?" The two share a look. Their eyes part and Azoric tunes again.

Outside the sun fries green grass brown. Harsh shadows cast themselves along the pavement. The neighbors peak out of their closed blinds and windows. Every time they hear the beginnings of practice, they contemplate moving. Some have moved, citing _The Purples_ as their reason. A paper covering the local music scene has a column, where some smart-mouth bad-mouths bands for a living. This reporter described _The Purples_ as, the _only thing that could lower land values more than toxic waste._ None of this discourages Zor. He believes in his band. Bad looks from neighbors or bad reviews (well-review, really) or pleas from his mother don't change his mind.

Azoric used to think the same. Zor has seen the change. "You think I am not serious? I see, don't have the guts to say it, huh? Well, I've been wondering about you lately." Azoric loosens a string. "What's with cutting your hair? And dying it brown? We are The Purples. The long, purple curly hair-have you forgotten? It is our calling card. It is how people are going to know us from the rest of the faces in the crowd."

"Yeah, being known from the rest of the crowd got me fired from Kinko's."

"That's not all. You've changed man. What's with not responding to your name. I am beginning to think you were serious about refering to you as, _Angelo Dante._ Are you having some kind of identity crisis or something?"

"Maybe I don't want to be a Purple anymore." Azoric's guitar slides across the garage, his arms in the air after throwing it. "This band is going nowhere-I am going to nowhere. I want to do something more with my life than drink beer, sit on the couch waiting for your mother to leave so we can practice."

"Oh really! How about that Mickey-we're not good enough for him anymore." Zor kicks the guitar away. "If that is the way you want it, fine. You are holding The Purples down anyway. I hope I never see you again." Zor about-faces and crosses his arms.

"Uhh, Zor?" Mickey asks.

"I won't speak until _he_ is gone."

"That's just it. He is."

"_What?_" Zor spun around. Azoric is gone. No where. Not in the driveway, in the street-not anywhere. "Did he just disappear?"

Mickey blinks. "Whoa, Zor? Where did you go? Zor? Guys? Is this some kind of joke?"

***

An entire horn section belts notes across the _Libre Chica_, the world's most famous runway. Flashes flicker across the room-snapping pictures of famous models for the likes of _People, Cosmo, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly._ The designer behind the Falls Seasons best collection clamers back stage. With every model who walks the runway, the cheers rise. The whispers already trade mouths, _one-of-a-kind, rare-genius, they should frame it and hang it on a wall._

Dressed all in black, with a clipboard and pencil, Tony sweats like a mule, his big nose heaving breaths, his glasses slide along its ski slope middle. "Raven! Fields! There you are." Raven has just slid on a short black skirt and a purple sweater-cut with a large collar, her shoulders peaking out of either end. Fields changes behind the curtain, zipping up an evening gown. "They are saying both of you two are the prizes of the show. You both look terrific," he lisps. "The both of you are certainly the best supermodels in the world. Anything you two wear turns to gold."

Raven slings her green locks and smiles. "No Tony, you are genius. I've loved your collection since your first started. I am glad to be in your show." Raven's vanity mirror and table have makeup and hair spray all over, with _Iron Chef_ playing on a small television set. "I have to go. I am on the stage in thirty seconds." Raven's heels click along the dressing room floor.

"Fields, are you almost ready, dear? Raven finishes the business casual and you are first in the evening wear."

"I'll be ready." Fields fusses with the bust of the dress and straightens with a tug. She picks at her hair-which lays flat and then curls into buns at the bottom.

The crowd outside explodes in shouting. Tony smiles. "That must be Raven." He assumes she just walked the runway. The other models scream in horror and many in the crowd scream as well.

_What has happened?_ Fields thinks.

The two rush to the runway. _She just disappeared_, they make out over the commotion.

"Disappeared?" Tony asks, ready to tear out his hair. "How could this happen?"

"I don't-"

"Fields? Fields? Where did you go? Fields? Oh no, I'm ruined!

"Ruined!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

***

The full moon lights foodmart's way. He has crossed through this cemetery hundreds of times-now, when he needs his instinct, it's gone. His breaths at a frantic pace while his legs pump across the grass, hurdling tomb stones. Behind him, he can hear the Slayer's foot steps. She runs much faster, tackling him.

"Wait Buffy! It was just a little midnight snack." Foodmart's vampire fangs glisten in the moon light, otherwise very frightening to humans-not to Buffy Sommers. "No need to get hasty."

Out of the Slayer's coat appears a stake. "You amuse me. It is too bad I have to kill you."

"Not so fast!" Marrin shouts. She has watched this entire time. She follows foodmart. He can never take care of himself. "He might be an easy kill but you'll have to get through me!" Marrin steps under one of the cemetery lights, dressed in black, her fangs drawn. Her dark blue green hair rides the wind. Her eyes speak of a three century year old madness.

Buffy separates herself from foodmart. "Marrin-I've been waiting for this. You are I have some unfinished business."

"You wait no longer. It is time to finish it."

"Let's." The Slayer raises the stake. "Where'd you go?" She looks around, foodmart has disapeared too. "What the hell?"

***

"Yo, no one can make that jump. You are nuts if you think you can do it." A thick, mixed Aussie-British accent speaks. "Not just any nut can do a fifteen foot ramp. It takes skill, skill you don't have."

Punkr ollies his board. "I don't care what you say Duo. This weekend I am doing it. Someone has to put that idiot Landon in his place. He thinks he is so good at boarding because he won the Junior World Championship. Let me tell you something. He is no better than me."

Blue haired and pierced Duo pulls a piece of gum from his chest pocket. He is wearing a mechanics shirt with the name _Gus_ sown on it. "Listen, no one is going to care if you don't show. Just cause the guy challenged you doesn't mean you have to do it. Sure, some people will laugh at you come Monday at school but they will forget when Landon challenges someone else that same afternoon."

Duo sits on the steps on the local mall. Punkr has been boarding the parking lot for the last minutes. In five minutes someone will order them off the property-call them no good kids and threaten to call the cops. They'll raise their middle fingers, cuss and walk away.

Only this time...they disappear.

***

The forest is black with death. The sky has three moons. They are close to each other and vary in size. One really large...with the other two other proportional moons.

When they arrive they are being hunted. Large, dog like creatures stalk the forests, the soldiers of Savage, called Morrigans. He has sent them to find and kill the ones chosen by Steve Bateman.

The eight can't describe what has happened. They didn't fall out of the sky or wake up in this world... they just appeared. Azoric saw Zor's garage and then this black forest, the Morrigans closing in. Others appear with him.

He assumes the leadership role, ordering them to run. They've been running for the last half hour. "Come on!" He doesn't know where to run-only that he should run away from the barking. However, he suspects the Morrigans have been playing a trick. The barking sounds howl from the west, die in the west and kick up in the east. _They are trying to trap us,_ he thinks over his hysterical breathing. Everyone else follows.

Fields has ripped a slit to her mid-thigh out her dress, freeing her legs to run. "Raven! Hurry up!"

Behind them all, Raven trails. Raven ditched her pumps after a hundred yards of running. The terrain isn't flat, in fact, it rose and descended in ways she doesn't understand. Rocks and twigs litter the ground. Raven's feet are bloody and sore, swollen for the last two miles. Tears jet-stream from her eyes. Fields wears a pair of normal flat footed shoes, she never walked the runway.

She can run no further. "I can't. I can't. My feet. They..." Her breath is short and she collapses.

From the rear, foodmart swoops her into his arms and runs an all out sprint, not dodging the branches, which cut up his face and arms. "Keep running, they are behind me! I can hear their paws! Don't stop running!"

Duo and Punkr keep pace with Marrin-she appears mean and violent. This comforts them, if anyone can housebreak these beasts, she can. The forest hits a harsh incline and the entire group skates downhill. Their feet fall ahead of them and slip on patches of wet leafs. At any second, they could be swept up and crash the entire hill-probably killing them.

The very corner of the sky morphs from black, to purple, to red. "The sun will be raising soon!" Azoric shouts. "Maybe then we will be able to see where we are going and formulate a plan."

"I have a plan," Marrin shouts. "Get some very powerful explosive and lets show them _what we're made of_."

"Are you suggesting we blow ourselves up?" Duo asks, falling back a few strides. He doesn't want to be part of it.

"No!" Marrin leaps over the rotten trunk of a fall tree and lands, her left foot slipping out. A might crunch follows her fall. She slides along her knees, ripping her pants and tearing her skin. "Not show them what _we're made of literally!_" She rolls and jumps into the air catching a large branch to slow her momentum and falling on her feet, not missing a stride of her sprint. "Why would I suggest that?"

She hears no response.

"I say we head towards the sun. At least then we know that we won't lose each other!" At this point, they are all within ear shot. He can only see Zor Primus, who has kept close and very quiet during the chase. Zor and Azoric have been friends since kindergarten, he knows that his friend only has so much running in him.

"Maybe if we split up, we'll have a better chance." Punkr doesn't know if this is or is not a good idea. It is just a line he heard in a movie once. "It was just a suggestion."

"Shut up and run you fools!" Raven's tiny frame does not slow foodmart down a step. In fact, he has sped up. Being from the world of the undead, he does not need breath to move. Marrin and him could keep this up for hours. "They are gaining on us!" He lowers his voice. "First Buffy and now this...it was just a midnight snack."

The tip of the sun shines over the horizon and the barking stops. After a few minutes of silence, Azoric slides to a stop.

"I think they are gone."

***

They find a clearing in the woods. A large field of tall grass. In the center of the field are eight rocks in a circle. Each takes a seat for a few minutes. Marrin and Foodmart leave moments later to find some fire wood.

The light, which should burn Marrin and foodmart to ashes does not. This is only the first in many weird happenings for the two vampires.

"You saved her." Marrin bends over and examines another log. The forest is bigger than she could imagine. From the clearing she sees it stretching across the land. In the distance, a mighty mountain lives in the sunlight-however its tip is a circle of darkness. "You saved her. A human. You might have been killed or eaten by one of those beasts."

Foodmart doesn't care. She may have bit him and saved his life...she does not own him though. "Listen, we were sticking in a group. I just picked her up and ran. I don't know why I did it. Speaking of which-how come you are gathering wood for them? Why did you just eat them and be done with it all?" Marrin has not admitted that her thirst for human blood has left-foodmart's is also gone.

Marrin doesn't respond to the query. She picks up logs.

***

Marrin returns to find that the group has voted on a leader. A smiling Azoric frowns at Marrin's sneer. She throws the logs on the ground. "You had a vote without me? I demand we vote again!"

"It wouldn't make a difference," Punkr responded. "The vote was unanimous."

***

On the way back from gathering logs, foodmart stumbles upon a lagoon of salty, hot water. He dips his hand in the water. Upon pulling it out the cuts on his hands have disappeared.

"The water has some kind of healing capabilities."

Foodmart starts the fire for the group and carries Raven to the spring after. Raven sits on the rocks now, her designer clothing tattered. Her legs are shin deep in the lagoon. It stings but heals her feet. "So what is it with your friend Marrin, not too friendly?"

"Oh Marrin? She is a ball, funniest girl I know. She just has to warm up to you."

"Are you guys, like, going?"

Foodmart, in his colossal ignorance gives a confused look. Enlightenment springs on his face. "Oh, like dating? No. Absolutely not. Marrin is like a big sister to me."

"I noticed." Raven inspects one of her feet, the water returns them to normal size and manicures her toe nails..._if this lagoon can do this for my nails, imagine what it could do for my...or my...and my..._ "So you're vampires, huh? Don't you bite people like me?"

"Usually but I am content without the whole death thing-for now anyways. Maybe after we dispose of those dog hunters, that'll change."

"Hold old is Marrin?"

"Three hundred and forty seven. And let me tell you, when you hit that age, you get stuck in your ways." Raven smiles at how he carries on-not thinking any of it as odd. Marrin doesn't look a day over twenty-five...neither does he for that matter. "She is always bossing me around, foodmart do this, foodmart do that, foodmart you are going to get yourself killed. She treats me like a baby. I'm not eighty-nine years old any longer, you know?" Raven nods, she is twenty-two, unsure if she wants to live to eighty-nine. "Hell, I'll be two-hundred in three months. For all practical purposes, I am not even a teenager any longer. But no, Marrin, in all her infinite wisdom..."

"I am sure her heart is in the right place." _Vampires with hearts?_ Raven thinks. Foodmart's eyes converge in the same expression as hers. The two laugh. "It is too bad we don't have any pots and pans."

"You cook?"

"Not really, I _George Foreman_ though." Foodmart doesn't get the joke. "Never mind. I just watch a lot of Iron Chef. I know how to make a lot of cool stuff with really weird ingredients."

"Weird ingredients are in no short supply here."

Around the lagoon, twelve different types of flowers. Each unique and touching in its own way. Large and lovely peddles-or bright oranges with subtle black. Moss and vines grow over the rocks and leap frog lilles space along the lagoons surface.

Hours after the first sun rise, a second sun is beginning to rise. If Duo's theory that the Morrigans can't be in day light holds out, they have hours to hunt food and sharpen sticks for weapons. A task foodmart turned down to carry Raven here-against Marrin's wishes.

"Can I ask what is with all the black?"

Foodmart looks over his apparel. Black shirt, black pants, black socks, black boots. "The strap on my underwear is white." He reaches a quarter inch under his pants and snaps, proving it. "It is just a vampire thing. I mean, I love wearing colors. After all the vampire movies, people weren't scared by fangs dressed in white Polo with beige Dockers. So we had to go with black. How are your feet doing?"

"They are better."

***

"You sure you know what you are doing?" Zor unweaves one of his bracelets and uses it to tie his hair back.

Marrin rolls her eyes. "Yes. Now will you shut up?"

Zor, Marrin and Azoric stand in a small lake they discovered after hiking through the grassy fields. The crystal clear lake mocks their stomachs, fish swim out of the water, in their eyes and to their stomach. Marrin has a long, thin stick, which she sharpened to a point with a pocket knife she keeps handy. Hundreds of years ago, some Japanese sailors taught her how to spear fish.

She stabs into the water and misses for the fifth time. She curses and then focuses her eyes on the water.

"Marrin, no offense-" Azoric is careful with his vocabulary when speaking to Marrin. His precaution multiplies now that she holds a sharp object. "-but we might be too deep." Azoric guesses they are in two feet of water. The fish scatter after the spear breaks the surface. They are out of sight by the time her spear lodges itself in the sand. "Maybe if we just took a few steps to shore and you took some practice spears, we could go deeper."

"Shut up, you are scaring away the fish," Marrin orders.

"And I'm sure your spearing makes them flock to us like my grandparents to an all-you-can-eat buffet." Zor laughs at his own joke.

"Oops!" The spear finds its way in-between Zor's legs and smacks him behind the knee. He falls, butt first into the water. "Thought I had that one. I'm sorry." A big toothed grin overtakes Marrin's face.

Azoric helps Zor up. "Alright, no reason to get feisty. So, Marrin, you and foodmart, what were you guys doing when you disappeared? Zor and I were at practice for our band, The Purples."

Marrin concentrates on the water, she takes three steps to a school of fish. She moves with grace and her feet enter the water without a ripple. "Foodmart was about to get a stake through his heart. He was begging for his life. Disappearing saved him."

"That's wonderful." Zor pounds his forehead. "We're not in Kansas any longer. You don't have a heart. Foodmart is a coward. And our collective IQ about spear fishing is what...27? Some yellow bricks and one of those big toothed dogs and we are gonna have ourselves a hit."

Marrin stabs the spear into the water so hard that it snaps. Out of the water, speared straight through its gut, a fish flails it tail, its gills expanding like balloons, fights for his calm liquid home. She tosses the fish onto the ground.

***

Duo and Punkr volunteer for the difficult task of putting logs on the fire while the others catch fish. They sit by the fire. It is hot and they sweat. They don't move from it though. It is not the heat that keeps them by the fire. In this strange world, it is all they understand.

"Nothing like an evening dress with grass stains." Fields looks over her dress-once the rage of the fashion world-now nothing more than stitched fabric. She wonders if anyone considers how hard it is for Raven and her to be in these clothes...in this environment. No one brings it up. She supposes it isn't high on the priorities list. "Boys-you might not believe this but this dress was going to do wonders for my career. Those twenty-two years old darlings like Raven have been trumping me these last few years. Can't stay in this game forever, I guess." She looks around. "What am I talking about? I am out of the game...out of the world in which the game was played."

"So you guys are models?" Duo assumes. The way they looked when they first appeared, they couldn't have been anything else. His tongue almost unfolded right out of his mouth like a cartoon. "Punkr and I were on our way to the Clone Zone."

"Clone Zone? What's that?"

"It is a café and coffee house. It serves the best food in Jersey." Punkr kicks some dust onto the fire. He wants to be in the Zone now. "But these jerks come everyday around lunch and destroy the place...so no one really eat there." 

"That's awful," Field replies. Both Duo and Punkr stare like starving men at the buns of her hair..._just like the Cinnabons in the mall, if only I could..._ She notices their gawking, probably just the first time they've seen this hair cut. "Alright, I think we've taken a long enough break."

At her side are a pile of sticks. She picks one up and with her other hand uses Zor's house keys to sharpen its end. Duo and Punkr do the same with the keys to their own houses.

"Anyone have any ideas as to why we are here?" They realize this is a question no one has asked. Their minds have been repressing it. "I want to think it was just an accident, you know?" Punkr asks. "I keep thinking that I just did a fifteen foot ramp, fell off my board and am in a coma or something. At least this whole thing makes sense then."

Duo shaves the top of his stick. Out of the three, he has mastered this the quickest. "This is just like a video game I played once. This little green guy was taken to a far off world against his will...and he had to collect three pieces of something or another in order to save this world...and I don't remember the rest. I don't know if that helps or anything."

"Did you beat the game?" Punkr asks.

"No."

"It doesn't help then." Punkr and Fields say.

***

By nightfall a plan is devised. Some members of the Fellowship are less than pleased.

"Wait...wait...one moment," Duo replies. "So basically, the plan is that we let those dogs hunt us again all night. But Marrin here, keeps behind us, when the sun begins to rise, she follows them back to wherever they go? Not a very good plan."

Foodmart speaks up, if anyone is right for this job-it is Marrin. "Marrin has been hunting for over three hundred years. She is way better than those dogs. She'll stay out of sight. The intelligence she brings will help us get far away from those beasts."

Azoric nods. "Duo, no one is pleased with this plan." In fact, everyone is glad Duo objected to it. "We have weapons tonight. We are able to defend ourselves."

The Fellowship agrees to the plan and they enter the forest as night eclipses. All is quiet for two hours. Then, from a distance, a snarl.

"It's show time." Azoric lifts his spear.

"I just realized something," Zor replies. "We've never even done one show. What if we suck?"

"This is not the time, Zor."

All of them hide behind trees and lay behind bushes and other brush.

Foodmart's voice comes from one of the bushes. "I know you guys don't have much experience killing stuff... I've found that going for the neck usually works pretty well."

"We'll keep that in mind." Punkr lifts his spear. He is not afraid-he can not explain why. "Alright, everyone keep their eyes open. Anyone sees anything, speak up and let the rest of us know."

"Kill?" Raven asks, her voice shaking.

"Alright, remember the plan. We take down one of them and then we run and hide. Let them find us again. Marrin wants to see how they hunt. What kind of methods they use."

"I see one," Duo whispers.

About twenty yards across the woods. Large breaths are lit by moonlight and bright yellow eyes disappear every few seconds when the creatures blinks. They all wonder if the Morrigan has spotted them. Could be a coincidence, he might walk by. The Morrigan is joined by two others. The fellowship stops readies their weapons.

The Morrigans step forwards. Leafs crinkle under their paws. Azoric looks left and then right, everyone is still in their places...except for, _Punkr, where is he? Did they get him?_ He doesn't bring this up to the Fellowship. Their fear has already doubled from yesterday nights all-time-high. The monsters march forward, inching their way to their prey.

Within a minute they are twenty feet from the group. Each wonders why they do not run in terror. Each thinks they will pay for it with their life.

The fainting silence breaks with a shaking in the trees. Down falls a black figure. It lands on the ground, sticking its spear into the Morrigan. It howls death. Its two mates step back before pouncing.

"Ah!" Punkr shouts. "Help! Help!"

"Its Punkr! Let's help him!" Zor charges from his position and kicks one of the Morrigans off Punkr before it can take a bite at the brave boy. Zor sticks the Morrigan with his spear.

The third takes a stab from both Raven and Fields to down it. Everything moves slow for them and they push down with enough force to break the skin, while thinking, _why can't I push down harder?_ The Morrigan jumps to its feet and the women realize they will die-survival takes precedence and they plunge the stakes into the Morrigan, displaying strength they didn't know of.

"Are you okay Punkr?" Raven asks.

"I'm fine. Guess I should have thought that out more, huh?" He rips his spear from the dead Morrigan.

"Or at least told us you were going to do it," Duo adds.

"Shhhhh! There are more of them," Azoric whispers. Any feelings of relief or triumph flee. The makeshift battle group gather their weapons and stand behind Azoric at one of the largest trees.

"Where are they?" foodmart whispers.

"There," Azoric points.

"Where?"

"There." Azoric grunts.

"Where?"

"There!" All of them shout and point.

The entire group of Morrigans turn their heads and charge.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry," foodmart cries while running away from the dogs.

Up in the trees, not far away, Marrin shakes her head back and forth. "I swear, that vampire."

Continued in Chapter 2!


	2. Chapter 1.5; By Ravenchan

The Lord of the Matrix

Chapter 1.5

By: Ravenchan

_In a brief moment of peace, the Fellowship huddles around the fire one night, each doing their own thing. Raven tries to nap. A small frown marrs her delicate features as she dreams... _

Running again. With the cruel sound of the morrigans' taunting barks and howls following her. No one around to help this time, and she was running out of breath. Holding her side as she runs, she wishes once again for her trusty pair of New Balance shoes. A small fallen branch seems to jump into her path and she tumbles over it, scratching her hands and arms as she tries to break her fall. She looks up into the gleaming eyes of a morrigan. They had been running her into a trap. Her head hangs down in a moment of defeat. 

But she spies something shiny in the grass before her, glittering in the dual moon's light. Is it some sort of... locket, maybe? It's so cute....Instinctively she grabs for it and feels a rush of power. She feels the urge to hold up the locket and yell "Kawai Kawai Power! Make UP!!!", which she does. The morrigans step back, wondering what's going on. Raven is lifted from the ground in a warm bath of light. Her ragged excuse for clothing is whisked away to be replaced by a Sailor Senshi uniform, all deep purple, white and silver. Her flawless manicure is restored, with purple polish, only to be covered by white gloves. Small silver-white wings appear on her back. Thigh high white boots cover her feet and legs, with tiny sets of wings at the ankles. 

One morrigan grunts to the other, "What are we waiting for?" The other swipes him with a paw. "You idiot. You aren't allowed to do anything when they're transforming. It's in the contract." "Pretty stupid, if you ask me..." mutters the chastised morrigan.

The now transformed Raven begins her speech, set to some Tai Chi-like arm movements. "Morrigans! You have chased me through the woods, desroying my manicure and really messing up my hair! Urasanai!!! Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Kawai Kawai will not forgive you!!!" A delicate long handled silver mallet with a tiny pair of wings appears before her. She grabs it and starts to twirl it, baton style. She then poses and yells, "Kawai Kawai Knee Buster!" Tiny mallets fly at the surly morrigan and strike bone. He howls in pain. "My knees!" It falls to the ground.

"And now to finnish you off!" She poses again and a small globe of energy appears before her. "Kawai Kawai Kaboom!!" she yells and the energy globe smacks into the morrigan, blasting it to shreds. The others run away in fear...

_Marrin stands over the sleeping Raven. She has never let a human sleep long enough to hear it talk in it. She wonders what the heck "Kawai Kawai Kaboom" is..._


	3. Chapter 2, The Second Terminal

The Lord of the Matrix

Chapter 2: The Second Terminal.

The blues of the horizon are rich and deep, distance clouds splash like the white caps of waves. Oversized ostriches run wild and free...flamingos high step through little ponds and swallow fish whole...eagles sail through the sky, wings spread wide...groves of apple trees shelter ant hills and spiders webs...bunny rabbits make quick movements with their head and then jump three feet, only to make more quick movements. Under these two suns, an entire world is nurtured into maturity. Under these two suns, this world, is at peace.

***

Azoric handles the bow with steady arms. The first time he fired, the arrow climbed a camels hump, straight into the air, landing thirty yards off-target. Now, he wields his weapon with fatal accuracy.

Zor Primus bundles the tall grass and ties them together, creating targets who resemble Morrigans in size--not so much in shape. "Target C, it is, what? One hundred yards out?" Azoric draws another arrow. Marrin stands, arms crossed, unimpressed. "Watch this." The arrow soars along the landscape, buzzing the grass and ripping through the dummy's skull. Azoric lowers the bow and sits. His fingers claw at the dirt, pulling a strand of the tall grass and placing its sweet root in his mouth. "Have to admit it, I've gotten a lot better, haven't I?"

"We'll see how you handle it when you shoot through trees and hit a _moving_ target--at night." Marrin snatches his bow and secures an arrow. She back flips, somersaulting the ground, lifts to her knees, pulls, fires and hits the target fifty yards further. "When you can do that, you are getting better."

The wind carries the blade out of Azoric astonished jaw. "You haven't lived three hundred years on luck alone, that's for sure."

A week has passed since Marrin followed the Morrigans to their layer. Five miles east, Savage's mighty castle gobbles up the surrounding forest. The sight caused Marrin to gasp, swallowing its magnificence. Even in the great days of England, no castle had towers extending to the clouds, a moat of violent water and a forty foot brick wall protecting it. Dark storm clouds and bolts of lighting electrocute the sky, thunder overpowers the land. The Morrigans stop short of the castles walls, where using a secret password, a _bark, bark, woof, bark_ a draw bridge falls--giant chains clank along their path, the bridge itself wines like thousands of dry hinges. Marrin turned back to report her findings.

_And now Azoric is Robin Hood...this place isn't without its surprises._ In a rare occurrence of encouragement, Marrin says, "Keep it up." 

***

The other five sit in a circle.

"We still don't know why we are here." Raven and Field's clothing--never made for the outdoors--dissolved days ago. Since, foodmart loaned his shirt to Raven--Zor to Fields. Duo and Punkr cut the heels of their pants--so wide they fit the models for skirts. "We hide from the Morrigans and train to protect ourselves, how long can we do that? I need answers, don't you guys?"

Everyone nods, except foodmart who rubs his skin. "Oh, sorry." Foodmart smiles large in embarrassment. "I haven't had a tan in centuries, I feel radioactive. You try going from ghost white to native brown in a week." Three days ago, foodmart walked like an old man, inch by inch crossing the grassy field--his back, chest and arms burnt to a pimple red. The color melds everyday to a dark, consistent flow. "If you must know what I think, I'd rather not know. Life is good. No responsibilities. We work during the day. Hang by the fire at night. If we find out why we are here--then we have a quest, responsibilities, obligations, not to mention danger."

The others look away.

"I want to know," Fields says.

"So do I," Punkr comments.

The others agree.

***

Night falls on the land. They sit by a bonfire while their evening supper cooks. A large Morrigan that Zor killed. How ironic, they now hunt the very species which hunts them--_how is that for fitting in?_ Zor often thinks.

"How hard could your jobs have possibly been?" Zor bits from the hind leg of the Morrigan--the first piece to finish cooking. The little buggers actually taste good. "Modeling? Dressing up and walking a runway for the living. That is not work." Zor--while sitting Indian style--frolics his long purple curls with hands on hips. "Even I can do it, see?"

The group laughs...Punkr grabs his gut and swears to puke if Zor doesn't stop.

Fields relaxes from the hysterics. "It is not _that_ easy. There is a lot of traveling, late nights and the whole weight control thing sucks. If my PT," personal trainer, "knew I was eating this, he'd hemorrhage." Fields smacks her hands together, scrap meat flings to the ground. She shakes her hair straight while standing. "Besides, you have to kick your hip out and lean back with your shoulder." Duo pinkies either side of his mouth and cat calls her. "Thank you." Field's bats her lashes. She walks a fictional runway. They clap and holler, Raven among the loudest. "Not just any woman can do it."

"What makes you say that?" Zor asks. "Hey, Marrin--" Marrin's silence during this entire conversation is with intent. "Give it a try. I want to see how hard this whole runway walk thing really is."

"You've got to be kidding."

"No Marrin, I'm not." Zor devilish grin and perked eyebrows dare her. "Come on, really, everybody wants to see." 

The entire group eggs her on.

Foodmart seems the most pleased. "Yeah Marrin, all these years I've never seen you runway walk." Marrin ignores him like a fed-up older sister. "Put this big mouth in his place."

The entire group taunts again. Raven thuds Marrin's shoulder--Marrin finds this especially displeasing. "It'll be fun, give it a try sweetie."

Marrin stares her down, a frown drooping her cheeks like wax spilling from a candle. _Last week everyone of these humans would be running in terror. Now they think they can pressure me into doing anything. I'll show them who they can push around..._ The rest of the argument sounds good in Marrin's head. It isn't as convincing coming out of her mouth.

"I just want to say this, without a doubt, is the stupidest thing in the world and I am just doing it so you will all shut up."

Marrin cocks her neck back and marches long, goofy strides, placing one foot in front of the other. Everyone cracks in hysterics, pounding their feet on the ground. The appalling sounds from Zor's gut are the worst. They distract Marrin and she trips on her own step, purposely straddling him during her fall.

He can't stop laughing--even after her fist blackens his eye. "I'm sorry Marrin, I don't mean to laugh..." His hand wiggles out from under her and tickles her side. She giggles. The entire group freezes, as if in the presence of Steve Bateman himself...their mouths hang open with bulging eyes. "Marrin--you laughed. All this time here, no one has ever heard you laugh." Her eyebrows converge, _so?_ "You laughed when I touched you. You're ticklish!"

"Get serious you loserrraaaaerrrr...hahaha!"

Zor's fingers spider her sides. "I know someone who wants a visit from the tickle monster!" he mocks in a large, juvenile outburst.

Marrin falls onto her back. "No! No! No! Stop! Hahahahaha!"

"Alright Zor, that's enough," Azoric says.

"Who would have thought it, a ticklish vampire...it's so cute." Zor releases her and notices her fit stomach. Marrin glares--almost--seductively before covering her abdomen and shoving him away.

"Shut up."

***

Everyone sleeps during the night--even foodmart. Marrin is incapable of doing such. She thinks about this strange new world and misses her life...running from Buffy and hunting young men leaving the Bronze. Her desires to drink have left--her memories have not. They breed in her subconscious and before she can gain control...her teeth elongate, separating her lips, the choppers dangle like giant icicles. Her eyes void of color. Her graceful steps become a primal jerking.

Time to burn some energy. Marrin sniffs through the forest. She can not deny that she is-in this planet, this universe, or any other-a hunter. The scent of the Morrigans tickle her nose. _How delightful,_ she thinks. She uses her long spear as a walking stick...for now.

Her head cocks right.

_Sniff..._

The clouds part and the leafs whistle under the breeze. _Things are always about to go wrong when everything goes silent. No owls hoot nor mice scurry. Why? Because they all know that there is a predator here...and it is not me._ Across the woods, paws gain on her.

"Come on." She has learned from watching them. The Morrigan she hears is a patsy; a dummy--set-up to make her anticipate an easy kill. "Don't make me wait all night."

She pushes a branch from her face. All remains silent.

_Something is behind me..._

A Morrigan snaps his jaws on her weapon. Marrin spins on her feet. The creature lunges and yanks the spear. Marrin falls on her butt--grunting in pain--releasing the spear. She kicks the Morrigan's snout. The hunter runs away, dragging the spear with him.

Marrin rolls on her back and flips to her feet. She dusts her bottom and legs--the sound has not returned. Her teeth grow...if she has to tussle--she'll bet on her jaw. Her throat curls in a deep purr, letting them know something is animal in her.

The pack of Morrigans--who've been lying under brush with their eyes closed--jump to their paws and shake off the dust of the forest. They all step in unison, closing the space between. The lead Morrigan pounces in the air and Marrin catches him, spreading his front legs she bites the animals neck and tosses it aside--spitting a tuff of hair and skin.

From behind, a Morrigan hand and knees her. Marrin crawls from him, rotating onto her back and sliding on her butt. The same Morrigan charges her at full speed and takes flight...his hairy, deadly, fit animal skin over shadowing one of the moons. Its fangs every bit as visible as Marrin's. She holds out her hands...accepting the end.

The animal collapses on top of her...dead, an arrow through its skull. Blood drips on to her neck and runs along her shoulder. _What?_

_Swoop... Swoop... Swoop... Swoop..._

Four more fall. The rest retreat.

Marrin pushes off the dead animal. "Azoric?"

Azoric appears from behind a tree. "What was that about hitting moving targets?" His tone is neither sarcastic or mean. He has earned her respect...he will remind her of that even if she would rather forget.

She eyes him up close. "I could have taken them."

"Maybe. Why do it though? I was here. I helped."

"You followed me."

"Yeah, so?"

Marrin wants to run for camp. He knows how to hunt so well, let him--see how long he can last. 

She rubs a smudge of dirt from her face. "Don't do it again."

***

Marrin leads them through forest. Her thoughts repeat, _you're lost._ At night, the forest seems smaller. Now, in every direction--nothing but the same. She trusts her gut and continues to the east. 

"Anyone else find it odd that we are about to storm a castle with a bow and spears?" Duo asks.

They all agreed this morning, somewhere in this castle are the answers they seek.

Punkr slaps him on the back. "My friend, this is no time for logic."

"No kidding," Zor says. "If I believed in logic, I'd still be wondering why Angelo's has long purple hair again." Azoric punches Zor in the arm.

"Who is Angelo?" Fields asks.

"I knew an Angelo once." Foodmart stays a stride behind the Fellowship, shoulders with Raven. "Hey--Marrin, you remember Angelo?"

"No."

"Come now, you remember Angelo, don't you?" Marrin never answers the same question twice. "You know, he was kinda short...no maybe he was tall. Or maybe he was a she. No wait, brown, no blondish hair with a mustache." Foodmart stokes his chin. "Come to think of it, I don't think I know anybody by the name of Angelo." Raven laughs and the others chuckle. "It's nice to know somebody listens."

Raven's eyes survey the ground--she steps over a jagged rock. "I am going to have to visit the lagoon again after this hike."

"Who knows," foodmart says. "Maybe this castle is really an outlet warehouse for Nike. You'll be the envy of the forest in your new Jordan's."

Half an hour later, Marrin reaches the top of a large hill.

"Oh man," Zor says. "Are you kidding me? Those walls are forty feet high."

"I told you that," Marrin replies.

"Yeah but I didn't believe you. Whose ever seen a forty foot wall?" Zor cocks back his neck until it is hyper extended. He still can not see where some of the towers end. "I hope this place has got elevators."

"Lets go." Azoric says.

The rest of them follow. At the drawbridge they all take in the castles magnificence one more time. _David beat Goliath...David beat Goliath,_ Raven's thoughts stutter.

"So, uhh...Marrin, go ahead and input the password," Azoric suggests.

She gives him the, _Really? We aren't crossing the deadly moat and making a climb for it?_ look. The Morrigans use a computer system to enter the password. "How about that? This computer monitor is the first piece of technology we've seen here. Stands to reason this place might have other forms of technology. Everyone keep their eyes open." 

She belches, _bark, bark, woof, bark,_ while lowering herself to the microphone.

The computer screen reads: Invalid Password, Please Try Again.

"Maybe I got one of the barks confused with a woof." Marrin grits up her voice, hacking to sound more K9. Bark, bark, woof, bark.

"Hey look, it's a b****." Duo and Punkr double over in laughs. Fields and Raven palm their mouths and giggle. "Sorry," Zor says. "I couldn't resist."

"Alright, now get serious." Azoric nods at Marrin to try again.

Bark, bark, woof, bark.

The computer screen reads back: Error, PC Load Letter.

"PC Load Letter? What the f@(* is that?" Marrin punches the computer screen. "Open up, damnit."

The computer screen reads back: Password Accepted.

***

They cross the bridge. The forty foot walls protects nothing except dirt. The entire castle is deserted--with good reason too, a violent storm pours on them. The harsh winds helicopter their hair and flag their clothes.

A large building, with a giant arch is where they stop.

"Let's go." Marrin--never one to be lazy with her weapon--faces it forward. She steps through the archway and into the dark. The others don't follow. "Come on, we didn't come all this way to turn around." No one follows. "I see well in the dark, I'll lead us. I am sure there is nothing dangerous."

"Speak for yourself, immortal." Azoric enters and the others follow his lead. 

Marrin walks through the giant hall. No tables or chairs, banquet halls or fountains lay about. The room is just, a room--with colossal columns supporting the ceiling and towers.

The Fellowship reaches a winding staircase, it revolves in a circle, orbiting the core of the a tower. "What were you saying about elevators?" Punkr asks Zor.

Hundreds of feet up, a light twinkles like a faint star. "I guess we aren't alone here." _Why couldn't this have been a Nike warehouse?_ Raven clamps her jaw to hide her chattering. _Why does someone live that high up? And alone? What is wrong with him?_ "We should get going." Raven and Fields choke the railing and skip every other step. "What? You guys gonna wait for us down here?"

Foodmart swallows heavy. "Sounds good to me...I once rode a horse for eight hundred miles straight, a few years before the automobile was invented. I never thought I'd walk straight or be with a woman again and this stair case has got that horse ride beat, by at least ten or fifteen stories."

"foodmart is right, Raven," Zor says. "No one can climb that many stairs and ever be with a woman again."

"Oh, really?" Fields asks. "Looks like our fanatic exercising prepared us for one thing. Raven and I can Stairmaster 175 floors. We'll be up there is forty minutes."

"Bring me back a postcard, okay?" Duo jokes.

***

"You think they can really make it that far up?" foodmart asks.

Against everyone's better judgment, Raven and Fields climb the stair case to investigate the light.

"Shut up," Marrin responds. "I'm tired of your mouth."

"Sorry," foodmart responds. "No, don't go that way." He can see just as well in the dark. "It will double back to where we just came from."

"And that would be?" Zor asks.

"Shut up, the both of you." Marrin's footsteps stop. "Christ your hands are sweaty." Marrin pries her palm from Duo's and wipes it on her pants. They formed a _Chain of Life_ after leaving Fields and Raven--an idea Punkr saw in a movie. They all hold hands so no one loses their way. 

"Is that light I see?" Azoric breaks his grip with Zor.

"Yeah, your pointing is really clearing that up for us...in this pitch black." Zor eyes want to see the light. He looks for it like the others do--then it shines in front of him. "I see it."

The group progresses towards to the light. Mice squeak and bats flap their wings, squeaking misery. "It looks like it is coming from a room," Duo comments. "And--do I hear typing?"

Inside a plump woman, in her mid-fifties with bifocal glasses, sits at her desk with a typewriter, papers piled on either side. Her skirt is cut mid-shin with a golf-club sweater-vest up top. Her hair is aqua netted in onne large pipeline starting at her right temple and wiping out at her left ear, with a hive behind. 

Filing cabinets line the walls.

"Who are you?" Punkr asks. He can't believe this woman--who could be his mother--types away in this dark place. "You are a prisoner, aren't you? Don't worry, we'll set you free."

"Prisoner?" Duo steps into the room. "I don't think she is stamping license plates on that typewriter, Punkr." For Duo, this is a moment to shine. He feels like Humphrey Bogart, trench coat and cigar smoking--ready to ask the tough questions. "So--if you aren't stamping license plates, what are you doing here?" Duo intensifies his eyes, thinning them to slits, standing three paces in front of the group. 

"I am Mr. Savage's personal assistant."

"What?" Duo spits. "And Mr. Savage, he owns this place? The killer dogs and everything?" She nods in response. "And you," he points, "are his secretary?"

"Personal assistant." She smiles and nods. "There is a difference."

An awkward silence holds, both parties know they are in no danger--none moves in friendship.

Marrin steps into the light. "So then, you're saying you don't mind if we look through these file cabinets and take what we want?"

***

Raven and Fields sweat like pigs in August, their shirts stuck with sweat.

"It is an entrance of some kind," Fields comments.

Raven peaks her head around the door, against all physics, it _is_ an entrance--into a large bottomless pit. A silver of rock--a toothpick for a mountain valley serves as a walkway to the center of the room. At its end a large floating slab of slate gives floor to an alter. In the alters center, the critical first piece of the Matrix...

"What is that?"

***

"From what these files tell me--" Zor sits Indian Style on the floor, an overstocked file open and parted into sections. "There is this thing that gives...well, they don't name him...but it gives this guy the power to create universes. Well, not only that, anything. It is a fuel source that can be used to make any pursuit or dream come true."

"So why doesn't this guy without a name have it?" Punkr asks.

"Well, Savage and two others, with their boss, stole it. They need time to get everything figured out--like how they want to go about shaping the universes. So to keep the Matrix out of this guy without a name hands, they broke it in three pieces. And I am telling you, the second terminal is here."

"foodmart, are you listening to this?" Azoric asks.

Most of the group stands by Zor Primus. Foodmart sits at Tammy's desk. "Yes, I am listening." He turns back to Tammy. "Anyway, the episode where Rachel gets a red sock in her laundry, you know that one?"

"Classic, I was laughing for hours."

"Yeah, that happened to me. You see," foodmart progressively skips decibels--not knowing that everyone can hear him. "Marrin had this pair of tiny pink panties with a red heart and a little bow right here." Tammy hikes an eyebrow. "And I put it in with my whites. Big mistake, everything came out pink and most of those clothes had only been worn once." The group shoots their heads around. "What? Hey somebody has got to do the laundry...the cooking, the cleaning, the scrubbing, the washing." Foodmart counts on his fingers. "We're vampires, not Neanderthals. I like a clean inhabitance as much as the next demon."

"Yeah but--" Punkr mouths, _bows?_ It doesn't fit Marrin's tight black leathers. His wandering eyes also see Marrin, two seconds from jabbing him in the nose. "Fine with me. I think it goes. I'm sure if the fashion twins were with us--"

"Shut up." Marrin squeezes Punkr's throat.

"Right," his voices cracks. "Not another word Marrin, I promise."

"Whoa! Look at this!" Duo walks out of a closet in the far wall holding hangers full of clothing and shoes. "Fields and Raven are going to love these. We've finally got some clothes for them. I mean, they must be really uncomfortable wearing those short ...skirts, with those t-shirts...don't really fit..." Duo throws the hangers back into the closet, save one. "Anyways, we'll forget I found those. Anybody like this cape?"

Tammy reaches with caution but doesn't speak. Duo cloaks himself in it. He tugs at the corners of his neck. _No strings?_ The cape folds over his shoulders and chest, defying gravity. "I like it." Zor comments. "Now, if you only had some purple hair you'd be cool."

"Be careful with that," Tammy warns. She scoots out of her desk, spacing herself from the cape. "That is Mr. Savage's cape. Only he wears it. It has powers."

"Like what kind of powers?" Azoric asks.

***

"Hello ladies."

Raven's insides turn upside. "Duo? You scared me." Behind him wait the others. "How did you guys get up here? We didn't even hear you?"

"Magic cape," Duo peaks into the room. "That must be it, huh Zor?"

"That's it," Zor crowds the doorway, kissing shoulders with the girls. "The second terminal of the Matrix and the first piece in our quest to save the universe."

"Our quest to what...?" Fields asks.

"Lets get it." Azoric eyes the fire and lava. He wipes his brow.

The room is one giant circle-enclosed completely by rock. _Which makes little sense, the fire should have burnt itself out years ago,_ Marrin thinks. _Magic capes...what other tricks does this Savage have?_ Large black pits, resembling sunspots, float along the top of the lava. Every few seconds, the pressure overtakes the black and a geyser of fire and lava hiccup to the roof.

_Bow before me and state your purpose intruders._

The entire group is halfway across the walkway, which seems tightrope thin now that they turn around. Each eyes the long fall, the burning sulfur dilutes their minds. Behind them, high up, sitting on a thrown, with Morrigans sleeping around him, rests the Lord of Pain and Anguish, Savage.

Savage phases in on the bottom floor, across from the Fellowship. _Right here._

"No way, he teleported down here," Punkr says.

"And he is telepathic," Duo adds.

_Right on both accounts. So you are the eight--not very impressive, are you? Is this the best the all powerful Steve Bateman has to throw? It is no wonder that the Matrix is in our control. I assume that is why you are here--to reclaim one of the terminals. You are welcome to have it. All you have to do is get by me, walk through the door and head on out of here. No takers? _ None in the Fellowship responds. _I didn't think so. However, I do have an offer. Standard protocol really--I won't waste yours or my time. As allies we are strong...as enemies we waste precious time and energy, blah, blah. If you join us Backstabber has assured me you will each be given your own universes to do with what you please._

Azoric raises his left fist. "No deal."

_So you are the leader. It is of no consequence really, I wasn't even speaking to you._

Duo hears very different words.

_I see you wear my cape. It isn't very nice to poke around in other peoples closets, trying on their clothes and using their magic. It looks like Tammy let you take it without even putting up a fight--it is so hard to find good help these days. Never bother, what's done is done. Tell me and be honest--don't worry about your words, none of the others will hear you--do you like wearing it? I could teach you how to use it correctly. At one time I needed it for flight and teleportation. A cape is like a security blanket, unnecessary but important to the inexperienced someone. The capes gives peace and comfort. It gives your magic physical form when it has none. You can not hide your internal turmoil. You've tasted power for the first time in your life and you are as addicted to it as I was. Do not contain this power. I will teach you how to use it. Just ask me...and I will become your instructor._

"No!" Duo shouts. The other seven shake themselves out of their trance, unsure how long they've been without consciousness. "I will never!" Duo leaps over the seven, sailing-no, flying past them and landing on the alter. He picks up the terminal. Its power hardwires straight to Duo's brain. Like a slow high that rages at its peak, Duo can control it for a few seconds, soon he can not stand under the Matrix's hypnotic weight.

_You are foolish. Unaware of my power. I think it is time I show you what I am capable of._

The ground trembles. Soon, their eyes can not see straight.

"Everybody, brace something!" Azoric yells.

It is too late. The rock beneath Punkr caves. Before he can scream, Zor tugs him back. Zor grits his teeth, lifting Punkr to a stance but the momentum captures them. Marrin slides on her belly and reaches for the falling Zor, snapping his wrist and dislocating his shoulder with her grip and pull.

"Hold on!" she yells.

Their efforts at sustaining life amuse Savage. He raises his arms high above his head. Normally, Azoric would think this looks rather foolish--if not for the fact that the lava builds itself into a tidal wave.

Duo opens his eyes. His hand have released the terminal and he has control. He struggles to his feet and wraps the terminal in his cape so not to touch it.

Everything moves in slow motion. Punkr screams for his life. Zor looks at the wave in disbelief. Marrin fights to hold on. Azoric stares at Savage with little fear in his face or heart. Foodmart ducts and covers. Fields and Raven wrap each other in arms and say good-bye.

_No!_

Eight bodies splash into violent waves. Fields gags water and spits it out. _Salt water._ Its battery acid on hot pavement taste coats her throat, cramping her stomach.

"Where are we?"

In every direction, all Fields can see, is water.


End file.
